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The Function of Niched Halls in Wari Architecture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Gordon F. McEwan
Gordon F. McEwan*
Affiliation:
New World Department, Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, Denver, CO 80204
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Abstract

Recent archaeological study of the architecture at the Wari site of Pikillacta provides information concerning the function of one of three basic Wari architectural forms. These buildings, called Type II niched halls, occur at both Pikillacta and Viracochapampa, the two largest known Wari provincial sites. Their function can be deduced from a variety of evidence: data from excavations and associated artifacts, analogy with earlier, contemporary, and later Andean ritual/ceremonial buildings, and representations of buildings in Wari art. Based on this analysis, the niched halls apparently served as lineage halls where both real and fictive kin came to formally worship their ancestors. It is suggested that co-option of conquered elites by adoption, and thereby establishing a set of reciprocal obligations, may have been a strategy practiced by the Wari as a principal feature of their statecraft.

El estudio arqueológico reciente de la arquitectura en el sitio Wari de Pikillacta sugiere una interpretación de la función de una de las tres formas arquitectónicas Wari básicas. Estas edificaciones, llamadas corredores nichados Tipo II, aparecen tanto en Pikillacta como en Viracochapampa, los dos sitios provinciales Wari más grandes que se conocen. Sus funciones pueden deducirse por una diversidad de evidencia: datos de excavaciones y de artefactos asociados, analogía con edificios ceremoniales/rituales andinos tempranos, contemporáneos y posteriores, así como por representaciones de edificaciones en el arte Wari. Este análisis ofrece la conclusión de que estas estructuras fueron utilizadas como corredores de linaje, donde los familiares, tanto reales como ficticios, venían a adorar formalmente a sus antepasados. Se sugirió que la inclusión de las élites conquistadas por medio de aceptación, y el consecuente establecimiento de un conjunto de obligaciones recíprocas, pudo haber sido una estrategia practicada por los Wari como una característica principal de su política.

Type
Reports
Information
Latin American Antiquity , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , March 1998 , pp. 68 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1998

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References

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